This invention relates to a structure of fitting female and male connectors together.
Female and male connectors have been used for electrically connecting a wire (or cable) to an electrical equipment or a wire, and in order to prevent the erroneous fitting of the two connectors, there has been used the type of female and male connectors, in which a guide groove is formed in a connector housing of the female connector, and a guide rib for engagement in the guide groove is formed on a connector housing of the male connector (see, for example, JP-A-2002-117947).
As shown in FIGS. 7A, 7B and 8, the male connector 102 and female connector 103, disclosed in Patent Literature 1, are shield connectors which are used for connecting a shielded wire (or cable) 109 to an electrical equipment or the like, and are mounted on an automobile.
The male connector 102 includes an inner housing 121 made of an insulative synthetic resin, and an outer housing 104 which is made of an electrically-conductive non-magnetic material, and is formed integrally with the inner housing 121. The inner housing 121 is formed into a generally hollow cylindrical shape, and a pin-shaped male terminal 143 is received and held at its intermediate portion (in its longitudinal direction) in an internal space of the inner housing 121. The outer housing 104 is formed into a generally hollow cylindrical shape, and covers the inner housing 121 and an electrical contact portion 142 which is formed at a distal end of the male terminal 143 and projects outwardly from the inner housing 121 in surrounding relation thereto. An engagement projection 144 for fixing the female connector 103 is formed on an outer peripheral surface of the outer housing 104, and also a guide rib 174 is formed on this outer peripheral surface, and extends from an open end of the outer housing 104 in a fitting direction in which the male connector 102 and the female connector 103 are fitted together.
The female connector 103 includes an inner housing 114 and an outer housing 115 which are formed integrally with each other, using an insulative synthetic resin. The inner housing 114 is formed into a generally hollow cylindrical shape, and a female terminal 122, electrically connected to a conductor 126 of the shielded wire 109, is received and held in an internal space of the inner housing 114. The outer housing 115 includes a tubular portion 116 placed close to an outer periphery of a rear end portion of the inner housing 114, and a hood portion 117 of a generally hollow cylindrical shape covering a front end portion of the tubular portion 116 and a front end portion of the inner housing 114. A lock arm 139 for fixing the male connector 102 is formed within a rear end portion of the hood portion 117. A guide groove 140 is formed in an inner surface of a front end portion of the hood portion 117, and extends from an open end of the hood portion 117 in the fitting direction.
When the male connector 102 and the female connector 103 are fitted together, with the outer housing 104 of the male connector 102 inserted in the hood portion 117 of the female connector 103, the engagement projection 144 of the male connector 102 is engaged with the lock arm 139 of the female connector 103, thereby fixing the male and female connectors 102 and 103 to each other.
The guide rib 174 of the male connector 102 and the guide groove 140 of the female connector 103 are so placed as to correspond to each other, and with this arrangement the outer housing 104 of the male connector 102 can be inserted into the hood portion 117 of the female connector 103, thus allowing the male connector 102 and the female connector 103 to be fitted together. Namely, the guide rib 174 of the male connector 102 and the guide groove 140 of the female connector 103 prevent the erroneous fitting of the male and female connectors 102 and 103.
Incidentally, in the case where there are a plurality of mating pairs of female and male connectors of the above construction, the positions of the guide rib and guide groove are usually changed from one mating pair of connectors to another mating pair so that the mating pair of female and male connectors can be easily recognized, that is to say, the male connector will not be erroneously fitted into the female connector which is not its mate.
However, in order to change the positions of the guide rib and guide groove from one mating pair of connectors to another mating pair, it has been necessary to exchange molds (for respectively forming the guide rib and the guide groove at different positions) in the injection molding of the female and male connectors. Therefore, in the case where a plurality of pairs of female and male connectors are provided, it has been necessary to prepare the same number of molds as the number of the pairs of female and male connectors. And besides, considerable time and labor have been required for exchanging the mold, and therefore it has been necessary to take measures to reduce the production cost of the female and male connectors.